


Azamuku no Monogatari

by AAlexander



Series: Monogatari wo Tsutaeru - The Telling of Tales [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Autism Spectrum, Female Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, LGBTQ Female Character, Major Original Character(s), Male-Female Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Minor Canonical Character(s), Multi, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Survivor Guilt, Therapy, Trans Female Character, Triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 22:12:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10228616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAlexander/pseuds/AAlexander
Summary: 敵を欺くにはまず味方から - "In fooling the enemy first deceive your allies."Yuuki Kita is a girl. It's just that between a hostile father, societal expectations that mark her love of cute dresses as 'crossdressing', and the idea Konoha has that 'no one entirely normal wants to become a ninja, anyway', she's having a difficult time realizing that for herself.Luckily, her new team are pretty strange themselves, and don't mind helping her figure out her own brand of uniqueness. Her teacher's insistence on forging friendships and learning to work with other ninja means that the "emotionally stunted" Aburame girl with the flesh-eating beetles is just the tip of the iceberg that is the Leaf Village's adoration of the strange.Then there's that strange redhead who likes to harass their teacher whenever they leave the village...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to the first chapter of my first real fanfic (now with exactly no beta-reading, because I wanted to get this out like you wouldn't believe)! A lot of the tags up there apply to later chapters, but should give a general idea of what this story is going to be about without being too spoiler-y. The people this story and series revolve around are going to be OCs, but the canon cast members tagged will play large roles later on, I promise.
> 
> Warning for transphobia in this chapter.

Morning came bright and cloudless on the day Yuuki Kita had waited half of his short life for: the graduation exam from Konoha's ninja Academy.

His alarm went off at six on the dot and the preteen sat up and quickly turned it off, before hopping out of bed and rushing to the bathroom. The boy closed the door behind him before stripping out of his pajamas and taking a quick steaming-hot shower. After he dried off, then running a brush through his hair and tying it back in the barely-there ponytail he could manage with the back-most portions, he hurried back to his room and pulled out a tightly folded item of clothing from the bottom of his dresser. That quickly went into a small bag, then he dressed quickly in fairly plain clothes; a gray shirt and a pair of black denim shorts. The Kita family wasn't a clan and as a result had no crest to go on the boy's clothing, so the dark fabrics bore no marks. He stood and took a quick glance in the mirror on the back of his door before nodding approvingly-- he looked fine, if a little plain. That could be fixed later; now it was time for breakfast.

He made his bed quickly-- better to keep his mother from having to do it, she had enough to do-- and then made his way down the stairs to the kitchen, where Hanaka was busy preparing breakfast for herself, her husband, and Yuuki. "Morning, Mom," he said, waving at her (though she couldn't see it) before sitting down at the table across from his father. The Academy student held his breath in hopes that maybe the man would stay engrossed in his morning paper and cup of tea, perhaps he wouldn't _say_ anything--

"You need to get your hair cut, Yuuki," Yuudai Kita grumbled, though he didn't put down the newspaper just this once. "You look like a girl, not my son."

No such luck. Yuuki let his breath out in a nearly silent sigh, glancing up at the clock. It wasn't even 6:30 yet; there wasn't close to a short enough amount of time left before he could claim he was leaving to train. He would be stuck across from his unpleasant parent for at least half an hour still. "I like my hair just fine, Dad. Besides, lots of male ninja have long hair-- the First Hokage did, and Jiraiya of the Legendary Three. Even the Fourth had hair a little longer than mine-- you wouldn't say that the _Fourth Hokage_ looked like a girl, would you?" That last had been a nice bit of information to find, and he had brought one of the textbooks home last year to show the picture to his father, as if he hadn't been alive during the man's brief but celebrated tenure as village leader. Of course...

"All of those are legendary ninja, not some brat from a civilian family," his father grunted. The paper rustled as he turned a page, but he still-- thankfully, because this was the third time this week they'd had this argument and it was only Wednesday-- didn't set it down to glare at his only child.

That point hadn't made any difference. His father didn't care if Yuuki preferred his hair a little longer than most (though his classmate Neji Hyuuga had much longer hair, an argument he had also used at one time, only to be shot down with ' _he's from a clan, not some brat from a civilian family_ '), having inherited from his mother's side soft hair of a sky blue rather than his father's dull and coarse black. All that mattered to the man was that Yuuki ' _looked like a girl_ ', in his opinion.

' _And all of those legendary ninja were my age at one point,_ ' he thought, closing his eyes and reminding himself that no matter how differently they saw, this was his father, and for his mother's sake he had to be respectful and not start a brawl over the kitchen table. ' _You're just jealous because you look like you have a dead animal on your head in place of hair._ ' He mentally blew a particularly wet and noisy raspberry at the man. Instead of saying anything else, he glanced into the kitchen. "Do you need any help, Mom?"

"Oh, stay there," Hanaka sighed, just as tired as her son of her husband's constant nagging about Yuuki's hair or other 'girly' traits. "I have it, dear. Your graduation exam is today, isn't it?" That was a much better topic, and Yuuki went along with his mother's obvious segue to something far less upsetting and more celebratable, his gold eyes brightening.

"Yup! Rina- _sensei_ has had the whole class studying for it for the last week; I know she's really hopeful that not even the dead last will fail this year." Rock Lee had the deck rather stacked against him, though, what with having a stunted chakra network and, as a result, no ability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Yuuki wasn't sure he would make it, even if the other boy's taijutsu _was_ second-best in the class. "I'm a little worried about the ninjutsu portion though; I'm probably going to go train a little before class starts to make sure I can handle whatever they've chosen for the test." It was a lie, and he _hated_ lying to his mother even if she didn't stand up to his father on something as stupid as his hair. But their being civilians meant he could get away with it; it wasn't as if they had any real idea how his skills stacked up to those of his peers

Yuuki wasn't the best in the class at ninjutsu, though he was somewhere around the upper quarter of the class; he would likely have no trouble passing at all even if his taijutsu was all from the basic Academy style or the style he'd developed for himself. By his estimation he would land comfortably in the middle of the class based on his previous scores-- he was no Neji, best in the class at taijutsu, or Tenten, who could not only hit bullseye on a target ten out of ten times with shuriken, kunai, and the difficult-to-master senbon and was tied with the likeliest kunoichi of the year in book-work. He certainly was no equal to Tomoyo Kurata; the other girl's nin- and genjutsu were above even Neji's due to her Jounin older brother's tutoring-- but he wasn't Rock Lee, who many in the class thought had only made it the full six years due only to sheer stubbornness.

The conversation went on far more comfortably after that, with even his father poking his head over the newspaper to ask who he hoped he’d end up on a team with. “Oh, Tomoyo- _chan_ and Neji- _kun_ would be the best I could hope for,” Yuuki answered, laughing. “Not _realistically_ , of course-- Neji- _kun_ and Lee- _kun_ will probably end up on a team together; the dead last usually goes on a team with the top of the class to balance things out, and then a kunoichi is placed on the squad too. That’s what _sensei_ said. But even just being on a team with Tomoyo- _chan_ \-- that would be great, she’s going to be a really good ninja. And she’s really pretty.” She was also probably his closest friend in the entire world, because she didn’t care what he wore and would happily teach him what her mother and sister taught her about makeup, and had helped sneak him into the kunoichi classes, but he wasn’t going to admit either of those things in front of his parents. His father would straight up _lose it_ if Yuuki ever intimated that he had snuck off from the boy’s side classes to learn about things like flower arranging and the proper way to wear a kimono, or how to cook something other than field rations (which was just _stupid_ , did the people in charge of their classes not think that boys might need to learn to create and decipher coded messages that could be hidden in plain sight? Or make a meal that was _enjoyable_ instead of just _edible_?). It would be even worse if he ever mentioned that those classes had been more enjoyable than the ones he'd missed, anyway.

“I won’t know for sure until tomorrow, I think,” Yuuki finished, as he caught sight of Hanaka pulling the plates down from the cupboard. He stood and went to help his mother plate the meal and bring it to the table, even though she had told him to stay seated, and her grateful look warmed his heart a little. “They have to figure out everyone’s final scores first.” He settled her plate between him and his father, then sat back down with his own, while his mother brought Yuudai his plate and a cup of tea. His father folded his newspaper and set it down to the side, smiling up at her.

“Here you go, dear.” Hanaka leaned in and kissed her husband’s cheek before sitting down beside him.

“Thanks for the food, Mom,” Yuuki said, pulling his plate closer. An extra helping; he felt even guiltier for the lie of ‘leaving early to train’ than he had when he told it. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get a _tiny_ bit of training in... he could pack a thermos of water and a rag in his bag, too, couldn't he? Train, then change into his other clothes before heading off to the Academy for what would be the last day of class?

It couldn’t hurt, so long as he took the time to stretch and cool down properly, and not do anything too strenuous. In the back of his mind, as he quietly dug into the _oyakodon_ that his mother had made. It burst with flavor on his tongue and he let out a happy sigh. In his only slightly biased opinion, his mother made the best _oyakodon_ in the entire village. It was even better than what the Akimichi restaurant near them had served before they had paid her handsomely for her recipe after he had shared his bento of leftovers with the Akimichi boy two classes behind his. Now theirs was great, but there was definitely something about Hanaka’s cooking that even the Akimichi just couldn’t manage to duplicate for him.

He finished the rice, chicken, and egg with speed that couldn’t be entirely explained away by being a growing ninja boy, before moving onto the miso soup she had made the previous night. That went down quickly as well, followed by the cup of milk. He chugged the last of it before settling his cup down. “It was great, Mom,” Yuuki said, smiling. “I’ll get my dishes--”

“Leave them!” she said, waving her hand at him in mock anger; her eyes were filled with mirth. “Tomorrow you can do all of the dishes you like; today is _your_ day. Go and train; you mentioned you were having trouble with your senbon last week.”

“Ah... yes, Mom. I’m going to grab one of the wash rags and a thermos too. I don’t want to show up stinking. I can wash up at the training ground if I keep it light.”

“Of course, dear.” Both of his parents ate at a far more sedate pace-- his mother had nowhere to be; his father would be going to bed around the time class started, having finished his overnight shift at the shop that catered mostly to shinobi. Yuuki stood and headed over to the linen closet to grab one of the rags Hanaka usually used to dry the dishes, then back to the kitchen for a thermos of cool water. Both items were stowed away in the small messenger bag already holding his other clothes.

”Mom, dad, I’m off,” he said absentmindedly as he pulled on his shoes at the door. He could hear their responses and his mother wishing him luck from the kitchen table, but paid them little mind, still planning what training he’d be able to get away with before he got too tired to make a good showing during the taijutsu section of the test.

Out the door and into the streets of Konoha. So early in the day the streets weren’t _bustling_ , but there were enough people out and about that it didn’t feel quite so early.He waved happily at a few shopkeepers and stall owners he recognized, on their way to the open-air marketplace or to their businesses. He even took a few seconds to call out to the ones he knew by name: “Good morning, Ichiraku-san! Morning, Onoe-san; how’s your mother? Ah, Auntie Haruhi! Is that _saltwater fish_?”

“Yuuki- _chan_ ,” the last said, stopping with her cart. The civilian was built like an ox and even for her size was surprisingly strong-- enough to pull her cart by herself, even loaded by fish. “Good eye; it is saltwater fish-- practically fresh-caught, no less; I had a ninja seal it for me as soon as I bought it.” She swelled with pride. Yuuki knew it would fetch her a pretty ryo; so far from the ocean, _fresh_ saltwater fish was hard to come by and the few steady suppliers tended to sell directly to sushi shops.

Haruhi Morigi was a seller dealing mostly in miscellaneous goods-- one month she might have a dozen 90-meter bolts of the finest cloth from weavers in Wind Country’s capitals; the next she could have jewelery from artisans around Hidden Stone. One of the things that was a constant was foods that the citizens of Konoha didn‘t see much of, which was probably where she had the money to buy the other things she came around with. “I tell you, sealing scrolls are really worth it, even if it took me two months’ profit to afford a set of Shinrin-written ones. You’ll tell your mother to stop by my stall when you get home, won't you?" The woman paused. “Actually, if you come with her, I have something for you; I traded some chakra thread I picked up in Earth to a merchant from Water Country for a nice skirt with lots of pockets for your weapons. It’s pretty sturdy, too.”

That caught his attention even more than the fish had. Haruhi wasn’t aware that he wasn’t a girl, largely due to his neutral manner of speech, and looked on him almost like the daughter she’d never had, or a surrogate niece, after the years he'd spent running errands for her when she was in the village (initially as a way to stay out of the house and away from his father, but later because Haruhi was _nice_ , and would give them a discount on foods the Kita family didn't get to have very often in exchange for his help)-- which meant she tended to bring him cute clothing from time to time, even though he’d told her many times that being a ninja-in-training meant that if he wore them regularly he’d ruin them.

”Of course I’ll tell her, when I get home,” he told her, beaming. “Um... I don’t think I’ll be able to help out as often as I have been with your stall, Auntie-- I take the graduation exam at the Academy today. By the time I come and see you, I’ll be a shinobi of Konoha!” She reached out to pat his head with her large hand.

“I already know that, Yuuki-chan,” Haruhi said, smiling down at him. “Why do you think I brought you a useful present this time?” His heart warmed. He hadn’t thought she’d mark it down to remember, even if she was fond of him... but then, she _had_ come back to the village on the same day he’d be taking the exam. Had she done that on purpose? “Now, it looks like you’re off to do some training-- work hard! I’ll look forward to seeing your new forehead protector. And you’ll have to tell me when you get up to taking escort missions; I’ll make sure and request your team when you do.”

”O-of course, Auntie!” Yuuki flushed happily. “See you later!” He waved and continued on to the training ground, at a run to make up for the lost time he had spent talking to Haruhi. It didn’t take too long even at half of his all-out pace; he was only breathing a little harder and hadn’t even broken a sweat by the time he made it to the training area he favored. The small clearing wasn’t used very often by any teams or, as far as Yuuki knew, anyone but himself. The forest around it was already trying to reclaim it despite the biannual brush-clearing the village hired Genin teams to undertake. But it was the perfect size for Yuuki’s training regimen, so he used it every day he could eke out time for extra training.

The boy pulled his bag over his head and stowed it beside the trunk of the largest tree before settling to the ground to start his stretches. The shinshin-touitsu-dou poses his mother had passed on to him from her years-ago training would help limber him up enough that he wouldn’t risk pulling anything. He took fifteen minutes moving from position to position, being careful to keep his breathing steady the whole time. Finally, he moved into the last pose and held it until he felt a slight strain. He stood straight and stretched with a contented sigh, then moved into the opening of the style he had spent the last three years working on with Tomoyo’s help.

With speed that would have surprised any of his other classmates coming from him, he began to fight an imaginary enemy. Dodging and feinting were done as second nature at this point; Yuuki envisioned himself becoming one with the breeze that blew through the trees. ‘ _Light as Wind,_ ’ he reminded himself. ‘ _Flowing like Water._ ’ His dodging shifted to offense; a series of particularly nasty high and roundhouse kicks, one after the other. ‘ _Quick as Lightning-- ready to consume like Fire--_ ’ 

He channeled chakra into the muscles and joints of his legs in preparation. The last move he would perform out of this set had taken a year to get down to second nature because the amount of chakra required to pull it off properly was exact. Too much, or too little, and he would fail. He tensed his legs for the jump--

And launched himself up into a flip that took him easily twice his height into the air. He kept his eyes open despite the hint of nausea it still inspired, watching the world whirl around him like that. He threw two brace of kunai at the height of it and landed solidly with a thud. ‘ _And solidly grounded like Earth._ ’

Shaking his head a little to rid himself of the dizziness, he glanced at the tree. All four kunai had hit, and solidly at that. The boy smiled proudly and walked over to the tree, tugging each knife from the wood and placing it back into his equipment pouch.

The rest of the time was spent doing what he’d said he would: practicing with his senbon and making sure his basic three ninjutsu were up to snuff. By the time he left the clearing he’d managed a hit with half of the needles, and while his Transformation didn’t quite come as easily as Yuuki would like, it was still lifelike-- and more importantly, he could make himself look like someone who didn’t actually exist by piecing together parts of people who _did_ , which Rina- _sensei_ had said was important; becoming a double of someone else ran the risk of running into someone who knew them, and that could be _dangerous_ when you were dealing with other ninja, who were trained to notice even the tiniest of slips.

When it was getting close enough to the start of class that he had a genuine worry about not having enough time to get cleaned up and changed, he dusted himself off with a sigh, grabbed his bag from between the large roots of the tree, and headed off towards the Academy.

* * *

Yuuki was comfortably seated in one of the seats near the center of the room when Tomoyo made her way in, her bag slung haphazardly over one shoulder. She took one look at him and her eyebrows snuck under her bangs. “You’re wearing a skirt on graduation exam day,” she observed aloud, her voice rather flat as she crossed her arms and stared down at him. “Is this some kind of clever plan to get graded on the kunoichi scale instead?”

“Depends,” he responded, grinning at her tone. “Do you think it’ll work?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Yuuki- _kun_.” The girl hopped up onto the edge of the table and swung her legs gently. The training weapons in her leg pouch clinked together quietly, metal on metal. “You know _sensei_ knows better. But... maybe some extra points for non-jutsu disguise skill? You _have_ been pulling off sneaking into our classes with Hisae- _sensei_ all year. That _isn’t_ a Transformation, right?”

“‘ _Yuuki- **chan**_ , Tomocchi," he corrected, amusement dancing in his eyes. “I’m one of the girls, right? And do you feel me letting off any chakra? It’s only my natural good looks... helped by Fuyumi being the only one of the girls that isn’t built like--” He made two straight up-and-down lines with his hands.

“Fine, Yuuki- _chan_. And that’s because Fuyumi knows that she’s going to be scouted for either genjutsu or medic training when she graduates.” She kicked her legs back and forth, a little more actively than before-- not angry, but certainly jealous, just like most of the class were of the lucky few who knew what would come when they made Genin. It was what most of them wanted: to have some idea of the path that lay ahead of them, what specialties they were most suited for rather than the uncertainty of youth. “She may end up getting both before she makes Chuunin-- her chakra control is outrageous; 99th percentile for kunoichi, from what Hisae- _sensei_ said.” She snorted in disbelief. “Talk about winning the genetic lottery; being from a civilian family and having control _and_ reserves. Meanwhile, the rest of us have to actually work out to try to keep up with you boys, and it turns out that when you’re burning off everything you can shove into your mouth in a day without getting sick at the sight of another meal or snack, you don’t have a lot to spare for silly things like _secondary sex characteristics_.”

The class on what would happen to their bodies over the next few years had stated as much. Even menstruation tended to be delayed in most kunoichi, due to their fat-to-muscle ratios. The girls on the far side of the scale, the few girls who ended up focusing on taijutsu (who would to practice for an equal amount of time to what they spent in class in order to keep up with their male peers), would have to supplement their already specially-formulated diets with special food pills to keep a medically-acceptable level of body fat-- even an _Akimichi_ would get tired of food, with how often a taijutsu specialist had to eat. "Maa, you'll get there," Yuuki reassured his friend gently. "Anyway, how is your brother doing?" That set Tomoyo off on another rant-- how the man had been taking as many missions as he could, hoping to accrue leave time for when she graduated. "So he can 'help me adjust to being a ninja'," she said, rolling her eyes. "Like I haven't been watching him and the others _be ninja_ since I was born." 

"I’m sure Toru is just looking out for you," he replied, smiling at her obvious irritation. "You _are_ his baby sister, after all."

"I'm Kanae and Yukio's younger sister too, and _they_ think I'll do just fine without any help." She grumbled and tugged at a strand of her auburn hair. "Even they think he's acting more like I'm starting the Academy instead of graduating. It's ridiculous, Yuuki-chan, you can't really understand without actually seeing it."

"Maybe he's... exhibiting nesting behavior?" was the boy's next guess, this one half-joking. "I mean, he's getting to that age where maybe he's thinking about having kids of his own, sending them off to the Academy... it can't help that Kanae- _san_ just had her kid."

"Psh. He doesn't even have a _girlfriend_ to consider having kids with." Tomoyo snorted. "Scares off the civilian ones when they see his floor covered in weapons-- how he hasn't sliced off his toes yet I don't know-- and the kunoichi Mom thinks are worth joining the family don't want to give up the hard-earned reputations attached to their names to become housewives and pop out his squalling brat."

He sucked his upper lip against his teeth. It was true that the norm seemed to be that once a kunoichi had children, she exited the ninja force for at least the next seven years, and never seemed to make up for the loss to her skills that those years represented... it left the field largely bereft of truly _great_ kunoichi for the girls in the Academy too look up to, much to Tenten’s disappointment. "I think you're being a little harsh, Tomocchi. We were all brats at one time."

"Sure, we started out as babies, but I _never_ cried half as much as Kumori did. _Kanae_ even said so, and she's the one who tried to sneak me off to the hospital when I cut myself on one of her kunai when I was Kumori's age..." At the thought of her nephew, the girl's face brightened. "Ne, Yuuki-chan-- when I make Genin I'll be taking missions! Kanae can't make me babysit if I'm never home!"

"I guess that's true." He paused to glance up at the other students beginning to make their way into the room. "Ne, Tomocchi, you should sit down. Class will be starting soon, and we don't want to make Rina- _sensei_ mad right before the test, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." She smiled at him and hopped off of the table, landing silently on her feet then turning her head back to look at him. "Do your best, okay, Yuuki- _chan_?"

"I'd say the same to you, but I don't think you actually know how to do anything else." They shared a smile before she walked away and settled into a chair a few tables closer to the front.

It was a few more minutes before Enoki Rina made her way into the classroom, during which the other students excitedly exchanged gossip and their own well-wishes. Her limp was more obvious than usual. It was a cold morning, despite the beautiful sky; maybe her old wounds were acting up because of it? The woman-- beautiful, not in spite of but perhaps _because of_ the scar marking from close to her ear to the corner of her lip; it gave her an odd sort of character that would have otherwise escaped what was a pretty but overall forgettable face-- settled against the teacher's desk and surveyed the classroom. Rina was silent for what felt to all of the students like an eternity. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife; Rina was rarely silent for this long while she knew everyone was waiting for her to speak. Finally, she smiled.

"Congratulations, everyone," she said, in a voice that would have suited one of those housewife retired kunoichi who had half a dozen children more than it did the ex-ANBU Academy teacher who regaled them with tales of declassified missions she had taken during the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars in exchange for good behavior and class test scores. "Today marks your hopeful graduation from the Ninja Academy, and the end of our six years together." Her blue eyes sparkled-- pride or tears, none of them could have said for certain. "I have high hopes for each and every one of you, that I will see the first class to pass the Academy without a single failure since the Legendary Sannin themselves graduated. I know all of you have it in you." She made a single handseal and with a small puff of smoke, a solid clone stood beside her. The two Rinas shared a look, then the clone took the pile of paper tests from her and began to distribute them amongst the students.

"You'll have two hours to complete the test," she explained to them. "No talking, no cheating-- I _will_ catch you if you try, make no mistake. When you're finished, go over your answers to make certain you didn't miss anything you think you can answer, then raise your hand and my clone will collect them from you."

Kamizui Tsubaki, sitting in the front row, raised her hand and waited for Rina to call on her. When their teacher gave her a nod, she piped up, "Will you be telling us stories between the tests like you promised last year, Rina- _sensei_?"

The woman laughed. "I honestly hoped all of you had forgotten about that! I suppose, since after today I won't be able to tell you any more, I can tell a few stories for all of you to take with you." As her clone returned to her empty-handed, she nodded. "Alright, everyone should have a test--" She ran an eagle-eyed gaze over the classroom and nodded again in satisfaction. "Everyone has a test, everyone has a pencil... you may begin." She clicked a stop-watch in her hand and settled into the seat with a relieved expression to watch over them.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Gender theory doesn't seem to be a _thing_ in Naruto, so Yuuki's not entirely aware that it's possible to be anything but a boy when the people important to you say that you're a boy. She'll realize that everyone else is wrong eventually, but until then, she'll be referred to using he/him/his pronouns in the story itself.
> 
> I have a lot of _opinions_ about the world-building in canon. Specifically, I have opinions about the lack of sense or general grounding in reality a lot of it seems to have-- which, series about magic ninjas, sure. But as Tomoyo points out, any preteen girl who's doing the kind of physical training that being a ninja would take, while in the start of a long period of growth, should be built like an Olympic gymnast rather than an average girl.


End file.
